A giant 40-foot effigy of tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared in New York’s Times Square as activists protested against SpaceX’s AI Grok chatbot and the firm’s historic $1.8 trillion (£1.3 trillion) stock market floatation on Friday.
Inflatable Protest In Times Square
The massive inflatable showed a laughing Musk wearing a baseball cap, with tattoos including a heart bearing the word “ketamine” and a chest tattoo accusing Grok AI of producing sexualised images of children. The back tattoo read “Space X owns Grok”.
Spacex Ipo Set To Break
Space Exploration Technologies Corp planned to offer 555.6 million shares at $135 (£101) each on Nasdaq. The IPO aims to raise $75 billion (£56.2 billion) to fund the launch of 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites and deploy AI data centres in space.
Investor Concerns Over Valuation
Despite the massive valuation, SpaceX remains unprofitable, with a $4.94 billion (£3.7 billion) loss posted in 2025. Revenue reached $18.67 billion (£14 billion) last year, expected to rise to $25 billion (£18.8 billion) in 2026, but the company is priced at 56 times future revenues, sparking worries.
Retail Buyers Play Key Role
Industry experts highlight the unusually large 30% share allocation to retail investors, reflecting Elon Musk’s strong retail following. Retail trading contributes 20%-30% of daily volume in major markets and has grown to record levels globally.
Musk’s Net Worth And Status
Should the floatation succeed, Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire and reinforce his position as the richest person on Earth, with Forbes valuing his net worth at $826 billion (£619 billion) and his SpaceX stake at $542 billion (£406 billion).
